In college, I could not go a week without someone asking me, "Do you want to be put on my list for clubbing?" or slipping some mini-poster
advertising an event under my door. With about a dozen nightclubs and bars
within a 3-mile radius, my campus was filled with club promoters. Nearby
nightclubs seek out college students to be promoters
to spread the word around campus, and, if you are good at it, you make bank! Always admiring the idea of leading a posse into a nightclub under my name and
entering for free, I signed up for a Guest Host competition at a downtown
Dallas nightclub as soon as I arrived home. I have already learned a lot just
by promoting for a single night!

Your success relies
on other people. Not only do you have to rack in a whole lot of people who
agree to come, you have to assume they keep their word and actually come. To
you, the night becomes a serious event, but to others it is just one of their
options for the weekend that consists of dressing up, finding transportation, spending
money, and being out way too late. People easily ditch their clubbing plans at
the last minute.

You run the risk of
being deemed a nuisance. Being annoying is never fun, but a crucial element
to advertising is repetition. Throughout your campaign, you constantly have to
use your social media platforms to let people in the dark know about the event.
However, it clogs up the newsfeeds of others who have heard about it
twenty-something times. It can also be hard when confirming RSVPs with friends:
You feel guilty engaging in small talk just so you can casually drop in the
event and see if they are for sure attending, but it is better than asking them
upfront and running the risk of them feeling like another dollar sign to you.

Additional campaigning
costs extra of your money. If you
want to expand your target audience, posting flyers or visiting places around
the area are all on you. Maybe the club will provide you with hard copy signs
and posters, but only a limited amount. However, extra spending is not usually
necessary unless you are trying to increase your income or win a competition
like me. Either way, if you are going to throw in your own money, make sure you
have a good strategy to actually gain more back in the end!

Nightclub promoting
is a lot harder than it looks. Although the actual night can be a blast,
the build up to it takes a lot of time and energy to secure an impressive guest
list. And, after the night has finished, it is time to do it all again for the
next week. If nightclub promoting interests you or falls within your major,
then it is something to check out. You don't have to drink, and it's definitely worth the experience!